Was thinking about using a cocking piece sight or Lyman 35 on the .404 Jeffery (now under construction):



...and from what Taylor says about these, it is necessary to set these up correctly with NO standing sight in the rear express sight to obstruct the sight picture.

...So the obvious question is "Where does one find such a sight?"...NECG was my first choice and they show several 1 standing with 2 or 3 folding leaf sights, but no "all folding leaf" sights. Is this something as simple as just milling down the standing part of the sight...problem solved?

Thoughts?

Jeff P

[ 07-10-2003, 03:48: Message edited by: Pfeifer ]

Try the pre 64 Win. sights. I have a double folding sight on my .375 that is what it sounds like you want.

I also have a bolt peep on my 404 and line it up with the standing leaf and get a very fast aquisition.

Taylor contradicts himself alot. He doesn't approve of folding sights.

Original Mannlicher-Schoenauers and Mausers used a rear mounted aperture to help you see the barrel sights with more clarity. (the barrel sights on these rifles are extremely small).

I doubt that you will have any trouble seeing your express sights, but a rear peep sight used in conjunction with both barrel sights will give you instant alignment. The eye's natural tendency to center things will feel like you are looking through a scope.

A bolt peep is really cool, especially since it is an integral part of the rifle, it cannot get lost.

On the other hand a Lyman 35 is simply over-the-top in terms of cool factor and having complete adjustability. I saw one at a gunshow and must have played with it for ten minutes. To be able to do all that machining and have it fit just so is, well, amazing.

Not bragging. Just showing off. Lol.

Roger

By the way, I like your current sight set-up. Verrrry classy.

I believe that I have just about talked myself into a 404. There is an individual on this forum that makes a very compelling argument for the Jeffery.

R. Kehr

Yup, the bolt peep sure is pretty. And that Lyman too.

Pfeifer, have you thought about taking a few cartridge cases to a sheetmetal shop with a few m98 stripper clips and have a handful made up to fit the .404 Jeff case? That would be guaranteed to bowl over your friends and relatives. Plus being a very quick way to load up a magazine after getting to where you want to be.

at the risk of sounding like a dummy, how did you make the bolt peep, how is it attatched, and how accurate is it? by the way, i love it.

X-51

I didn't make the bolt peep myself. I bought it from Tom Delucci. He makes a limited number of these sights. Last time I talked to him he still had some in stock. Email me and I will send you his phone #.

The sight is silver soldered to the cocking piece.

I haven't used mine yet, but reports are good as far as accuracy goes.

Pfiefer

Here are a couple of pics of Tom's Peep on my .404. Roger gave me the
info and it was very good. A very neat set up.



[ 07-10-2003, 19:42: Message edited by: Mickey1 ]

Scrollcutter,
Your old buddy Jim Wisner is to thank for the sight components on my .404 Jeffery He is truly an amazing resource as are several others here. His .404 Jeff is very similar from what he described - more like the Rigby in the picture I posted earlier in my other thread.

Thanks all for posting picts of such sights! I dug up Tom DeLucci's ph# as those are just some very nicely machined sights! Just called but it is not his ph# anymore! So guess I'd like that current ph# too. JimW told me about them several years back but I had never seen one until recently. Have a few things to take care of before I can order such though.

Have either you or Mickey noticed much difference in lock time with the additions of these cocking piece sights? Much has been made of this elsewhere, but I wonder if it really effects things "that" much - ie. well within the practical realm of a hunting rifle. I certainly think so!

I got a reply from Mark Cromwell at NECG this morning about suggestions for an express sight with no standing sight and he said that they just mill off the standing sight - it's a done deal then!

Roger,
The stripper clip idea has entered my head but not thought through it yet. Certainly shouldn't be that big of a deal to have some made up. I even have a friend that works in a sheet metal shop...I think we'll be having coffee together soon

Jeff Pfeifer

[ 07-10-2003, 21:36: Message edited by: Pfeifer ]

Jeff
What brass are you using, and who's reamer did the chambering job. Any problems with misfires?

Just curious as I have heard of bad experiences with this cartridge pop up from time to time.

Roger

Roger,
I went with the PTG reamer (by Dave Kiff) as rented from Shaunie at Elk Ridge. My gunsmith had to custom grind a .415" (slightly under that)floating pilot for my .423" groove diameter barrel. I have a box of factory Kynoch 400 grn softs and several handloads for checking as well. Dave Kiff mentioned that Kynoch has one of his reamers and guages (one or both, don't remember)as well - IIRC. I have not had a chance to fire this as yet, as I don't have a stock to mount it in and don't have any .404 Jeff bottom metal. Both of these can be worked around of course. I got this action with some '09 Arg bottom metal so I could use this with a mauser stock and do some test firing. I've been thinking about this the last few days too - would validate the chamber at least. The gun shop probably has a M98 stock that we can jury rig something up to test this with.

My friend who has a .404J (G&H / Parker-Hale 1100 African) has some HDS brass and just bought out another friends .404J ammo - Some Norma and HDS? brass in there. I have no brass at the moment - other than the Kynoch ammo (saving for feeding & rail adjusting tests). Do have some RCBS dies though as of last week - fronted to me by same friend as he picked up a second brand spankin' new set I will see about getting some brass in the near future. I have some Barnes Originals 400 grn FMJ's and some 400 grn Kynoch softs, for testing. I was going to see if MAST has any .404 Jeff brass.

So your questions are just a bit ahead of where I am at the moment wrt this project.

IIRC JimW used a borrowed Clymer .404 J reamer that he had access to, to cut his chamber. You might talk to him about this to see what he knows about this reamer dimensionally.

Also there is someone here in town that has 2 or 3 sets of RCBS .404 Jeffery dies sitting on the shelf. Not too inexpensive though - asking $150 for them which is better than new price of around $200 though now. In your business you can probably trade him work for a set???

Just a comment - Noticed the fine level of finish on your Tom Delucci sight - Is that the way it came or just the master engraver's touch? :-)

Can you email me Tom's ph# separately too?
JP

[ 07-11-2003, 03:52: Message edited by: Pfeifer ]

Jeff,thanks for all the info and good luck with your 404. I started a 404 topic in Bib Bore. Ray Atkinson suggested the clymer reamer. So yours should be ok.

Concerning the bolt peep, that was the out of the box finish, and I already emailed Tom's # to you.

Roger

Nice looking project. Where is the barrel from, and what length please? -Fred

Fred,
The barrel blank was one that came into the shop with a bunch of others. It is believed to be an APEX cut-rifled barrel blank - .423" groove diameter, .415" bore diameter, 8-groove, 1-in-14" twist. The length was originally 25.75" and I asked my gunsmith to maintain all of the length that he can within reason. So as it stands now IIRC, it measures 25" from the front of the receiver ring to the muzzle. The banded front sight is one of Jim Wisner's "European" banded ramps EBR-5A (.720" ID). The rear barrel express sight sleeve is also one of Jim's creations - 3.5" long with a .892" ID bore and is unlugged. This slides right onto a step in the barrel contour and is screwed down.

Jeff P

[ 07-12-2003, 04:41: Message edited by: Pfeifer ]